News
European Union funded STRIDE program holds its first National Steering Committee
The European Union (EU) and the State Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government Affairs co-chaired the first National Steering Committee for the Strengthening Transformation, Reconciliation and Inclusive Democratic Engagement (STRIDE) program recently.
STRIDE is a multi-stakeholder initiative worth over nine billion rupees, funded by the EU to promote dialogue between communities and local governments by improving access and quality of services at local level. The activities are implemented by the World Bank (WB), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the British Council together with The Asia Foundation (TAF) in partnership with the State Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government Affairs as well as the Ministry of Justice.
Under the STRIDE umbrella, the WB provides small grants to local authorities, UNDP provides capacity building, and the British Council together with TAF promotes mediation as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism at the community level.
Speaking at the Steering Committee meeting, Frank Hess, Head of Development Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Sri Lanka and the Maldives said, “In the EU, we believe that good governance and community participation in the planning and decision-making processes will contribute to everybody’s benefit. Local authorities should engage with people, mobilise and listen to their opinions and act as catalyst for change in every community, and in this program we are seeing this happening. Therefore, I am glad that the EU is funding this program with 40 million euros (over 9 billion rupees).”
Commenting on the STRIDE Steering Committee, S. D. A. D. Boralessa, Secretary, State Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government Affairs, noted, “it is a great honor to co-chair the National Steering Committee for the STRIDE program, which aims to improve the access and quality of local government services in 134 Local Authorities in Northern, Eastern, North Central and Uva Provinces in Sri Lanka. This steering committee will definitely enhance the results for assistance made by European Union and the World Bank and also minimize the bottlenecks at the implementation. I believe that the valuable guidance by the steering committee will generate more benefits to the people in the country.”
Speaking on UNDP’s role, Navaneethan Vijayakumar, Project Manager from UNDP in Sri Lanka said, “It is a pleasure to see stakeholders with diverse backgrounds coming together to provide important feedback to improve the implementing partners’ efforts and maximize the finite resources available. We are confident that with the guidance of the Steering Committee, we can work towards reaching our project goals that will in turn bring local authorities to the forefront in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
An important part of the program, and its National Steering Committee, is to listen to voices from local authorities at national, provincial, district and local levels.
Ms. Savithri Wijesekara, Executive Director of Women in Need (WIN), a member of the Committee noted that “the program initiated at the local government level has to be inclusive, responsive and accountable and build institutional capacity to provide good and effective service delivery to benefit cross communities of people. The inclusivity and engagement of the local government with civil society, the poor and the marginalized in development plans will strengthen and help in reconciliation, gender responsiveness and local needs.”
Asoka Gunawardana, Chairman, Marga Institute, fellow member of the Steering Committee sharing his thoughts said that “bringing together government and civil society representatives at the Steering Committee is a valuable chance to exchange views and share experiences”.
The STRIDE program is expected to run until 2023 and to benefit approximately one million Sri Lankans under over 100 local government authorities in the Northern, Eastern, Uva and North Central Provinces.
By Priyan de Silva
The Election Commission (ECSL) has opposed a move by the government to appoint representatives of the Chairpersons of the Regional Development Committee to monitor local government institutions.
ECSL Chairman Nimal G. Punchihewa told The Island that the government had informed the ECSL of its plan to appoint representatives of the Chairpersons of the Regional Development Committee to monitor the local government bodies and the ECSL had decided to write to the Ministry of Local Government opposing the move, he said. A Chairman of a regional development committee ESD a representative of a particular political party and it would be unfair by other parties for such appointments to be made, the EC Chairman said.
Punchihewa said that the administration of local government institutions could be done through Municipal Commissioners and Divisional Secretaries.Many political parties had complained against the government move, he said.
By Saman Indrajith
The JVP would file a fresh application before the Supreme Court against the government for not holding the local council polls, JVP MP Vijitha Herath said yesterday.Addressing the media at the party headquarters in Pelawatte, Herath said that his party had ascertained fresh information by invoking the Right to Information Act about the funds needed for the holding of the elections and his party would file another fundamental rights case against those responsible for conducting elections.
“The LG polls were to be held on 09 March. They were postponed until 25 April, and later they were put off indefinitely. The President appoints Governors to the provinces and the local councils are under them. Now, he says no party commands the support of 50 percent of voters.
Is this reason why he is not holding elections? His claim that there are no funds for elections is not acceptable. The Election Commission (EC) has, in a letter to the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, asked for Rs 1,100 million in installments for conducting local government elections. The Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, on 07 March, informed
the EC that the latter’s request had been referred to the Minister of Finance on the same day. But so far the money has not been released. As per a report released by the Treasury, the government revenue was Rs 177,900 million in January this year alone. Of that amount, Rs 156,760 was allocated to government institutions. The Treasury has Rs 21,410 million. In February, the government revenue was at Rs. 271,750 million and of that Rs. 208,620 million was spent. The balance was Rs 63,130 million. In January and February, the Treasury had Rs 84,270 million. These figures have been officially confirmed by a Deputy Treasury Secretary. The EC is seeking only Rs 2,460 million for elections. So, the claim that there is no money for elections is false as per official records. We will submit this information to the Supreme Court when we file a fresh application. We will prove that the government has lied to people,” Herath said.
SJB mayoral candidate for Colombo Municipal Council Mujibur Rahuman alleges that President Ranil Wickremeisnghe has violated election laws by appointing UNP’s mayoral candidate Rosy Senanayake as the Presidential Advisor on Local Government.
Participating in a talk show hosted by a private TV channel, Rahuman said that Senanayake was a candidate for the delayed local government polls. “She has submitted nominations for the Colombo Municipal Council from the UNP list. It is illegal to appoint a candidate to such a post pending an election. The local council polls have not yet been cancelled and cases pertaining to the holding of elections are in progress,” he said, adding that of all the posts the local government candidate had been given the post of Presidential Advisor on Local Governance.
“More than three months have lapsed since Senanayake stepped down from the Colombo Mayor post, but she is still occupying the Mayor’s Residence. The President says that he is implementing the system change demanded by people. The change he is actually doing is giving appointments to his cronies. Is it the change the people expected,” Rahuman queried.
EC opposes govt. move to appointment its henchmen to monitor local councils
JVP says govt. has enough funds for elections
Rosy’s appointment violative of election laws – Mujibur
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